On Tuesday, Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin
released the findings of the city’s first-ever traffic-stop
study, the purpose of which, according to a press release, was to
“determine significant patterns and differences in traffic
stops in the city of Springfield” toward the ultimate goal:
bias-free policing.
The point of the $3,500 study, conducted by
Professor Michael H. Hazlett of the Law Enforcement and Justice
Administration faculty of Western Illinois University, was to
analyze data compiled in 2004 by the Illinois Department of
Transportation and establish trends in racial profiling by cops of
Springfield drivers.
“As I began to break down some of the
information, it’s true that there were more nonwhite stops in
the northeast and the northwest sides of Springfield,”
Hazlett told reporters at a press conference. “However,
it’s also interesting to note that white stops were
significantly higher, proportionally, to what you would expect in
the East Side of Springfield.”
Hazlett revealed that nonwhites are more than
two times likelier to be pulled over relative to their percentage
of the city population, 190.5 percent higher than expected. The
ethnic groups most likely to be searched and arrested were
African-Americans and Native Americans.
Nevertheless, Hazlett maintains that ethnicity
alone is not the highest predictor of whether a driver will be
stopped. According to Hazlett, police patrol beats are the best
gauge of where traffic stops might occur. Other predictors include
the driver’s age, the vehicle’s age, time of day, month
of the year, and neighborhood.
Ward 2 Ald. Frank W. McNeil says that he has
mixed feelings about the findings of the study. Although the numbers of traffic stops and
subsequent arrests are disproportionately high in his East Side ward,
McNeil says that he can understand those results because he has asked
for an increased police presence. But more important than what drivers
who are stopped look like, he says, is where they’re from.
“Where are the people living that were
stopped? How many people that are stopped live in Ward 2?”
McNeil asks. He wants to examine Hazlett’s report even more
thoroughly to determine whether the folks being stopped in his ward
actually live there. He speculates that the abnormally high number
of whites the study found who were stopped on the East Side were
there because of that area’s high rate of drug trafficking.
The Hazlett report, which is available on the
city’s Web site, www.springfield.il.us, makes several
recommendations, including more diversity and sensitivity training and
analysis of traffic-stop reporting forms, which officers are supposed
to complete whenever they make a traffic stop.
According to Police Chief Don Kliment, the
diversity training will begin with a 10-minute-long informational
DVD produced by the Chicago Police Department on the customs of
several religious groups.
“Training can be there, but the
commitment has to be with the officer,” McNeil says in
response to Hazlett’s recommendations.
“Diversity training is key, and, if a
person understands that, we’ll have less tension.”
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2005.
